The Death and Rebirth of Captain America
by AzureSpider
Summary: My retelling of the end of Captain America's days in World War II...and his revival into a new era. NOTE: This is a VERY old fan-fiction, and is not up to the same standards as my more recent works.


Author's Note: Just something I came up with on a whim. I've noticed there haven't been a lot of Cap stories involving his disappearance and return, so here we are. Enjoy!

1945

"Bucky, duck!"

Steve Rogers, Captain America, as he was now known as, watched as his sidekick Bucky Barnes quickly dodged the bullet that zoomed his way. Bucky whipped around and shot the soldier that had fired the gun before turning back to Cap.

"Thanks Steve!"

"Keep sharp Bucky, Nazi soldiers are still all over the facility!"

Cap kept his indestructible shield up as more gunfire from the Nazi guard's machine guns came at it, each bullet bouncing nay, ricocheting off the shield's surface. A few of these deflected bullets even wound up hitting some of the very soldiers firing the guns. Any that weren't taken down in this way were taken out via Cap's superior hand-to-hand skills, or Bucky's Tommy gun.

As the dust settled, Cap and Bucky raced off down one of the halls, following the given coordinates. The facility they were in was where Nazi scientist Baron Zemo had been storing an experimental Drone Plane that had been stolen from the British. It was Cap and Bucky's job to retrieve the plane and apprehend Baron Zemo. They were also prepared to destroy the plane and kill Zemo if there was no other alternative, but the British had specifically stated they wanted their plane back in one piece and Baron Zemo in chains if at all possible.

Cap and Bucky rounded the corner and proceeded down another corridor, this one containing more guards. Steve kept his shield up as Bucky stayed behind him. Once again, the Nazi's bullets were useless against Cap's shield, and the guards all went down in short order. As Cap and Bucky kept running though, a fist appeared out of nowhere and knocked Cap back. Cap got back to his feet quickly, and found himself facing down a tall, large man with blonde hair styled into a buzz-cut and wearing a blue suit with yellow boots and gloves and a swastika logo, something Steve always cringed at seeing.

"Master Man. I'd advise you to stay out of our way, or I'm gonna give you a serious ass-kicking. Just like last time."

"I think not Herr captain. I will crush your skull under my boot today. AND your brat's."

Master Man launched himself at Cap who rolled to one side as he came at him, plunging his fist into the floor. Cap retaliated with a shield strike to the head. Master Man reeled back a bit from the blow, before steadying himself and launching another punch. Cap held up his shield to block the blow. The shield held, but Cap staggered back a bit from the force of the punch. Master Man followed it up with another punch, this one knocked Cap back even more. Then Master Man launched another punch, this one aimed right at Cap's face. Reacting in time, Cap ducked under the blow and rammed into Master Man with the full force of his body and using his shield as a battering ram. Master Man staggered back from the force, and Cap leaped up, using his shield to deliver an uppercut.

This sent Master Man staggering back even more, blood now flowing from his mouth. Master Man glared at Cap and spat the blood out.

"You swine."

Cap, seeing Master Man was now enraged, kept his guard up. Master Man came at him with increased vigor and ferocity. Cap dived to one side as Master Man came moving in. Not to be dissuaded so easily, Master Man continued to advance towards him, hammering away on Cap's shield with his fists before finally swatting the weapon aside. With one hand, Master Man seized Cap by the throat and held him aloft, attempting to crush his wind-pipe.

"Vhat vill you do now without your precious shield hm?"

Master Man continued to apply pressure, but had forgotten about Cap's legs…

Cap kicked Master Man back as hard as he could, forcing the villain to release his grip and let Cap go. Cap staggered back up and began sucking in air, getting himself into a fighting stance as Master Man staggered back.

"I'll just go to town on you with my bare hands."

Master Man scoffed and ran at Cap once more. Cap took a defensive stance and blocked each of Master's Man's punches as they came, occasionally retaliating with a punch to the jaw himself whenever he saw an opening, boxer style. Meanwhile, Bucky, who had been hanging back since the fight began, decided to pitch in with some fire from his Tommy gun. Unfortunately, all this served to do was agitate Master Man, who turned his focus to Bucky.

"Vait you're turn boy. You're next." Master Man turned back to resume his fight with Cap when another volley of bullets struck him in the back, injuring him further. Now incensed, Master Man changed his focus fully to Bucky and ran at him with the speed and force of a freight train. Bucky, seeing him coming in time, backpedaled furiously, but to no avail. Master Man was soon right on top of him before he felt Cap's shield strike him in the back of the head. Master Man whipped around and saw Cap charging at him. Master Man swung one of his arms out in an attempt to strike at Cap but he slid to the ground to duck the blow and then launched up with an uppercut followed by a series of quick strikes. Finally, Master Man had had enough, and punched Cap down to the ground, pinning him under his boot. Master Man began to apply pressure in the hopes of crushing Cap's lungs and ribs.

Bucky however, saw an opening. He took out his dagger and leaped on top of Master Man, jamming it into him. Master Man howled in pain and fury as he attempted to tear Bucky off of him. Cap launched forward at that exact moment and punched Master Man as hard as he could, finally knocking the brutish Nazi out.

As Master Man collapsed, Cap helped Bucky to his feet before quickly admonishing him.

"That was unnecessary Bucky. I had him. All you did in intervening was put yourself at risk. That said…thanks for saving my life."

Bucky grinned. "Don't mention it partner."

The two raced forward now that Master Man was down, hoping they were not too late. They went up a series of winding staircases until they at least came to the hangar area. More guards stood at the door's entrance, manning machine gun turrets. Upon seeing Cap and Bucky, the guards immediately let loose with their turrets. Cap and Bucky took cover. Bucky took out a holstered pistol and shot one of the guards in the head before immediately retreating behind cover once more. Meanwhile, Cap took aim and let fly with his trusty shield, which took out the second turret-man.

The two rushed forward. As predicted, the doors were sealed shut, but a stolen guard's keys unlocked them and then Cap forced them open with his superior strength. The two entered and saw the drone plane, still docked and undisturbed. It was about then when an arrogant-sounding German voice cut through.

"So, Herr Captain, you defeated Master Man did you? I cannot say I'm surprised. But you are too late. For I have already activated the plane!"

Indeed, no sooner had Baron Zemo finished his sentence then the plane began to start up, the propeller turning around and around rapidly. Cap rushed in to stop the plane anyway he could, but Baron Zemo opened fire on him. Bucky retaliated with fire from his tommy gun, the bullets ricocheting off the cover Baron Zemo was using. Zemo popped out and fired another shot, this one aimed at Bucky. The shot missed and Bucky shot Zemo, causing him to tumble off the balcony and fall. Now injured but still alive, Zemo staggered to his feet and shouted out:

"YOU'RE TOO LATE! The plane has taken off, with a bomb on board! You lose Herr Captain."

Indeed, the plane was already flying away. Not bothering with Baron Zemo any longer, Cap and Bucky raced after the plane. The two heroes saw to their horror that the plane was flying beyond their reach. They would have to leap on top of it to catch it now…

Bucky impulsively ran forward and leapt onto the plane. Cap ran right behind, and soon both were clinging onto the back of the plane as it flew out of the hangar. The plane sailed into the air, and Bucky scrambled forward to try and disarm the bomb. Meanwhile, Cap was struggling just to hold on, even with his super strength. He was too far back and he couldn't grip onto anything solid enough. Bucky however, made it to where the bomb was stored and attempted to disarm it. Cap could only watch in vain as Bucky made his attempt. The boy didn't know enough about bombs to disarm something like that. If only Cap could reach him….

If only. But alas, Cap lost his hold at that exact minute, and plummeted into the ocean below. As he made his descent, he looked on in horror as the drone plane exploded in a massive fireball, with loose bits being thrown into the sea along with Cap.

"BUUUCKY!" Cap hollered as he fell into the frozen waters below. As the cold and darkness took him, Cap's only thoughts were on Bucky…

2001-56 years later

The S.H.I.E.L.D. submarine made its way through the dark cold waters at a reasonable pace. The scientists within were conducting research on well…truth be told, Tony Stark had no idea what exactly the S.H.I.. scientists were researching, just that he and Hank Pym, AKA Ant-Man had been dragged along for the ride. As it was, almost nothing of import had occurred thus far, and Tony was becoming bored out of his mind. None of the scientists were in the mood for small talk, and Hank had ceased to be about 15 minutes ago.

But as the submarine kept going, it was suddenly greeted with a massive clump of ice. The frozen mass collided with the submarine, disorienting the crew slightly. But as Tony readjusted himself, he couldn't believe what he was greeted with:  
"Oh my G-d"

"What is it Tony?"

"Look Hank!" Tony said, pointing directly at the center of the ice block. Hank did as he was told and saw, lo and behold, a certain red, white, and blue clad man frozen in suspended animation.

"I'll be damned."

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters

The world came into focus slowly. His eyes had a hard time adjusting to the bright light staring him down. Captain America couldn't understand it. The last thing he had remembered was passing out in the frozen waters…

Staring down at him was a sullen-looking man with glasses, short messy brown hair, and bit of a stubble. He was smiling at him. Also there where a man who looked to be in his early to mid thirties with short black hair and a moustache, a blonde man who appeared slightly younger, and several men in dark blue jumpsuits with guns trained on him. That got him uneasy. But then there was another man…Steve couldn't believe who he was looking at.  
"Fury!"

Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. returned his old friend's bewilderment with a smile.

"Hey there Cap. And before you say anything, I'm just as surprised as you."

"What's going on? Where am I? How did I get here? And why do those men have guns on me!"

Fury held up his hands.

"Hey take it easy Cap. This ain't a session of 20 questions. You're safe, don't worry. My men found you floating in a block of ice in the ocean. To answer your next question: we won."

_We won…_That was definitely good to know. But then that made him realize…

"How long was I out?"

Fury's face turned grim. Finally, he said: "Uh, yeah, Cap, that's actually what I wanted to say next…you've been, uh…well, I ain't sure how exactly to say this…"

"Dammit Nick, how long was I out?"

"56 years Cap."

Cap's eyes widened in horror upon hearing that answer. 56 years? He had no idea he was out that long…as the seconds ticked by, he slowly began to realize all of the ramifications of this knowledge. What few family and relatives he might have left wouldn't know who he was. All of the good men he had fought alongside, except for Fury somehow, would be dead or old men. And Lord knows how much the country must have changed while he was out…what was he to do?

Nick spoke up again: "Uh, listen, Cap. I know this is all a little hard to swallow…or a lot hard, but, I'm heading a world-wide agency now, and…look, just know, that I've got your back in all of this…."

"Thanks Nick."

Cap finally turned to look at the doctor again.

"And you are?"

"Bruce Banner. With me are Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Enterprises, and Hank Pym. We're all scientists that do work for Colonel Fury"

"Pleasure to meet you all."

Nick smiled, something Cap hadn't seen him do on too many occasions.

"Welcome back to the world Cap."

2 Weeks Later

Steve continued to admire his new costume. As opposed to the original suit, complete with crimson buccaneer boots and wings on the mask, this outfit was more akin to a modern day US-commando's outfit. The light blue was now a much darker blue, the wings on the mask were gone, and the boots and gloves were now more traditional combat wear (with the standard S.H.I.E.L.D. perks of course). But while the outfit was certainly spiff, what felt the best was that Steve's old shield was still with him, something that still struck him as a miracle. But then again, the thing _was _indestructible. Cap only wished the same could be said for his _other _long-time partner…

_I'm sorry Bucky…_

Steve heard the door open and turned around. In stepped Tony in his Iron Man armor. Steve was still getting used to the amount technology had improved since he was on ice. Tony's armor especially never ceased to impress. And he still hadn't even seen the thing in action yet…

"Hi there Cap. So, enjoying the outfit?"

"Uh, yeah. It's uh…it's a lot less flashy then my old costume was, but, it still feels like Captain America, so…it works."

"Well that's good to know. So…you ready for this Steve?"

Cap had decided to tell Tony and the others his real name. A secret identity didn't exactly mean as much to him as it would some of the other heroes he'd heard about…

"Yes, I am."

And so Cap and Tony went to see their team. The "Avengers" they had been called by S.H.I.E.L.D. They were an interesting bunch: Besides Cap and Tony, there was Hank Pym, as the size-changing hero Ant-Man, a S.H.I.E.L.D. black ops agent and archer named "Hawkeye", his partner Mockingbird, and the king of an African nation Cap had never heard of before who called himself "The Black Panther"

Also there where Bruce Banner, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, Tony's old friend Jim Rhodes, his butler Jarvis, and of course, old Nick Fury, who actually wasn't that old looking, courtesy of something called the "Infinity Formula" that he had been given.

And Cap realized, all of them looked to him as a leader. Their leader. All of them counted on him to lead this team of superhumans into a brand new heroic age. And this was the man who still didn't know how to use a cell phone and didn't understand half of the phrases the modern US soldiers used. But be that as it may, Cap understood the responsibility that had been thrust on his shoulders. World War II was long over, but now new battles were on the horizon. And once more, the heroes of his country needed him. So he would be there. He may not exactly fit into place perfectly in this shiny new world, but he'd continue to fight the good fight all the same.  
And so, shield in hand, the star-spangled avenger uttered his great battle cry for the first time:

"AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE!"

Captain America had returned.


End file.
